This type of cutter head is used as part of cutters mainly employed for meat chopping. The dish of the cutter, driven around its vertical axis, generally has the form of the lower half of a torus, wherein a cutter shaft driven by a motor is provided approximately tangentially to the circular axis of the torus, having a cutter head provided with cutters. To chop the material, the cutter head rotates at high speed. The distance of the cutting edges in the outer radial area from the inner wall of the cutter dish should be as small as possible in order to obtain optimal mincing of the material. For this reason the cutting edges in the outer radial area of the several cutters of a cutter set must be adjusted to central clearances which differ from each other and which are based on the curvature of the dish wall and the position of the cutter in relation to the center of the dish. A further consideration is the loss of sharpness of the cutter after a certain time of use, necessitating a re-sharpening of the cutting edges. This causes an unwanted increase of the distance from the inner wall of the dish.
Several ways to solve this problem have been proposed, however, only partial solutions have been found.
For instance, an adjustment device has been proposed with the intention of providing a continuous adjustment by means of radial screws. Because of the high rotational speed and the comparatively large mass of the cutters, very large centrifugal forces are created, which have to be absorbed by the adjustment device. However, it cannot resist these extremely great stresses over time, therefore cannot guarantee a secure mounting of the cutters.
Another way is that of German Offenlegungsschrift DE-OS No. 28 36 630, wherein a dog is provided in the area of the central bore of the cutter for receiving the cutter shaft on the side opposite from the cutting edge and which is adjacent to the cutter shaft. If the radial length of the cutter is reduced by honing, the dog is shortened accordingly in order to compensate for the reduction in radial length. The adjustment of the dog with a file, i.e., by hand, is difficult and time-consuming. Furthermore, although the dog limits the cutter sufficiently in the direction of the centrifugal force, it does not fix the cutter in a determined position.